Jambo! Welcome to Velindre Walks. This Blog has now finished as we completed our Brains SA Captains Climb of Kilimanjaro in September 2010. We are all incredibly proud of our achievement on the mountain but more importantly the massive fundraising effort for Velindre Cancer Centre. Once again I'd like to thank the generosity of our friends, family, colleagues, suppliers, customers and everyone who donated either their time or money. If you are planning your own Kilimanjaro adventure, I hope that you find this blog helpful and if you have any questions then you can find me on twitter as @WelshITGirl... Continue reading

As part of the Brains SA Captains Climb fundraising for Velindre’s Stepping Stones Appeal we have arranged DVD signings with the rugby boys. All proceeds from the DVD sales will be going to Velindre so please come along and support the charity. Here are details of the events with Warren Gatland and former Welsh Captains: 7pm Wed 1st December Old Arcade (Cardiff) Warren Gatland, Mike Hall & Rob Howley 7pm Wed 8th December Duke of Wellington (Cowbridge) Jon Humphreys & Ieuan Evans 7pm Thurs 9th December Yard (Cardiff) Bob Norster & Garin Jenkins The DVD costs £10 and contains all... Continue reading

As part of the Brains SA Captains Climb fundraising for Velindre’s Stepping Stones Appeal we have arranged DVD signings with the rugby boys. All proceeds from the DVD sales will be going to Velindre so please come along and support the charity. Here are details of the events with Warren Gatland and former Welsh Captains: 7pm Wed 1st December Old Arcade (Cardiff) Warren Gatland, Mike Hall & Rob Howley 7pm Wed 8th December Duke of Wellington (Cowbridge) Jon Humphreys & Ieuan Evans 7pm Thurs 9th December Yard (Cardiff) Bob Norster & Garin Jenkins The DVD costs £10 and contains all... Continue reading

If you missed the Brains SA Captains Climb programme on ITV or would like to see more then the Official DVD is now available. At just £10, with all proceeds going to Velindre's Stepping Stones Appeal, this makes an ideal stocking filler for Rugby Fans or to give those who plan a trip to Kili an insight into the challenge ahead of them. The DVD contains exclusive footage never previously released. You can buy the DVD now from the following Cardiff venues with details of venues outside Cardiff to follow soon: Brains Cardiff Pubs Birchgrove Cardiff Cottage City Arms Dempsey’s... Continue reading

We awoke proudly with the knowledge that, yesterday, 53 members of our Captains Climb group had reached Gilman's Point (5681m) and 39 had managed to continue to the summit (5895m), Uhuru. I had a fab night's sleep which started at about 6pm on day 5 and continued through to 7am (ish) on day 6. Today we would be walking off the mountain and the only things between us and a shower were a 21km/13mile walk and a 2 hour bus journey back to the Hotel :)) Before starting today's walk we had a thank you planned for the porters where... Continue reading

In November Velindre will be holding their first fundraising dinner based in London. I will be a Captains Climb Event in aid of their Stepping Stones Appeal. It’s a rugby themed event just before Wales face New Zealand, with Zinzan Brooke, Jonathan Davies, Scott Gibbs, Robert Jones, Michael Owen and others. I would be extremely grateful if you could please forward a link to this page to anyone you think may be interested in attending. To book your place please contact: Velindre Fundraising on info@velindrefundraising.com or telephone 029 2031 6211 Donna Glover on donnapglover@aol.com or telephone 07787 843800 Or Christine... Continue reading

At the launch with some fellow Kili climbers + Paul Thorburn, JPR, Billy James, Gwyn Jones and Clive Rowlands. Great Christmas Pressie for any rugby lover. Written by Alun Wyn Bevan and photography by Huw Evans - available at all good book stores. ALL PROCEEDS TO VELINDRE & STEPPING STONES APPEAL :)) Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device Continue reading

It was time to attempt to summit Kilimanjaro! To set the scene . . . . we had been on the mountain for 4 days, some people had been suffering from diarrhoea and sickness for much of their time on Kili, others had been staving off headaches with pain killers, I had completely lost my appetite and felt nauseas at the thought of food and most had experienced sleepless nights up to this point. All of these were caused by altitude sickness and to varying degrees we were already tired at the start of the summit attempt. In order to... Continue reading

The aeorplane-esque views continued to welcome us on the morning of Day 4 and we had the infamous saddle ahead of us today. 5km of barren, desert-like, terrain that occupied the space between Mawenzi peak and Uhuru. Once again I fought my way through breakfast having been able to eat very little of the previous evening's meal. The nausea and lack of appetite, a symptom of altitude sickness, was still my main hurdle; the other was caused by the reducing levels of oxygen and I found myself breathless standing still! We left Mawenzi Tarn camp early with the aim of... Continue reading

The view on day 3 continues to stun us: The light is amazing at this height and time in the morning. At night the sky is so clear that star gazing becomes a favourite past time before crawling into our tents. Today we will walk to our next campsite at the base of Mawenzi Peak: The rest breaks seem to be more frequent today but for shorter periods of time. Scott Q and Mark Poyser carry on at the Pole Pole (slowly, slowly) pace set by Humphrey, our guide at the front of the group. The views of final destination,... Continue reading

Day 2 on the mountain and we wake up to a clear sky, an absolutely glorious morningand our first view of the summit. Breakfast Alfresco in the morning sunshine: Our first view of Mawenzi peak one of the three volcanic cones of Kili: Steve & James tuck in to some morning mountain fuel porridge, an energy drink/meal given to us by a sponsor. Ieuan decides to mix the morning fuel with cold water in a large water bottle, a mistake from the first second but it gave us all a good laugh! Wish I'd captured Ieuan's face after trying the... Continue reading

Having received our luggage, a day later than expected, we were finally ready for the mountain. Madeleine and Dai get into one of the mini buses for the 4 hour journey to Naremouru gate: We are all excited and a little apprehensive but glad to be finally able to start the walk: When driving in Tanzania you need God on your side, some gnarly overtaking moves scared quite a few of the passengers and gave adrenalin junkies like me an exciting trip :) The Diamox tablet's diuretic properties start to take effect and comfort breaks become more frequent! Diego never... Continue reading

Unfortunately due to poor mobile signal on the Rongai route the plan to blog my way to the summit of Kilimanjaro didn't quite go to plan. I'd like to complete my VelindreWalks blog with a picture diary of the whole trip. Hope you enjoy it:) The trip started at The Vale Hotel where the walkers and player gathered prior to setting off for Heathrow. I take the opportunity to have a pic with 2 of the smallest members of the group, Andy Moore & Colin Charvis: Ieuan is interviewed by one of the press teams: Warren Gatland touches base with... Continue reading

Today's Plan: We arrive back in Heathrow early in the monirng and transfer onto the buses which will take us back to Cardiff and the Brains SA Captains Climb will be complete. Continue reading

Today's Plan: Late afternoon transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport for our flight to Nairobi, then connecting to our overnight flight back to the UK. Continue reading

Today's Plan: We descend from Horombo through the moorland and forest to the gate at Marangu, arriving at around 3pm. From here we will transfer to our Hotel for a long awaited shower, celebration drink (or 2) and of course dinner. Continue reading

Today's Plan: This is an extremely long and challenging day walking up to 16 hrs. We get up shortly after midnight and climb Kibo for about 6 hrs to Gilman’s point (5680m), on the rim of the volcanic crater, for sunrise. If the day is clear, there are spectacular views over the savannah plains with the possibility of seeing Mt Kenya some 360km away. We then continue across the snow around the rim for a further 2 hrs for the final push to Uhuru Peak (5895m) – Africa’s highest point. It is a hard hike but is worth it to... Continue reading

Today's Plan: Early start 7am and a 5 hour trek to either school Hut or Kibo hut (camping nearby) at 4700m. It’s a slow 5 –6 hour trek across “the Saddle”, an alpine desert between the volcanic peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo. Upon arrival at 4700m we will rest and prepare for the summit day. Continue reading

Today's Plan: A steeper trek to Mawenzi tarn Hut at 4295m, 4-5 hours, 600m climb arriving for lunch. It’s a pretty campsite set in moraines in a glaciated valley with good views of the jagged peaks of Mawenzi above us. In the afternoon we will have a short acclimatisation walk to a higher altitude and then back down to camp. Continue reading

Just a quick update from the mess tent. We had a short 3.5 hour walk. We all coped well, I was pleased to see camp as I had used all my water 10 mins before arriving. Drinking water is key and those on Diamox are taking frequent toilet breaks, au naturale. Tent is ready, we've washed off the dust from the walk and we're all in our warm clothes. All good in camp and ready to celebrate Steve's 49th Birthday. Happy Campers Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device Continue reading

Today's Plan: After an early breakfast we leave Simba Camp and climb mostly on a narrow path through the moorland with some fine views over Kenya to the north. As we climb the trees become sparser and later disappear; even the Heather starts to shrink at higher altitudes. However there is still plenty of interesting wild flowers such as the elegant Scarlet and Prickly Thistle. We trek up approx 3hrs to second cave (a lava tube) where we break for lunch. After lunch a 3 hour traverse to Kikelewa Cave – a pretty campsite just over 3600m on the edge... Continue reading

After landing in Kilimanjaro Airport only to discover that our bags were still in Nairobi, we heard late last night that the decision had been made to postpone the walk for a day. We were all disappointed but there really were no options given that less than half of the group had luggage plus we were missing 10 bags of tents and the medical bag. We had built an extra day into the normal schedule which was designed to help with acclimatisation and ultimately get more of us to the summit - this day was now out of the plan!... Continue reading

We all met in the Vale Hotel & Golf Club on Monday to get our sponsorship T-shirts, energy drinks, Princes Gate Water, Buffs and a free copy of the WesternMail. After being there for 30 minutes or so I had the lovely surprise of seeing my parents who had decided to come up from West Wales to say Bon Voyage (maybe my mum wanted to check out the rugby boys too but I'm sure I factored somewhere in the equation;)) I nervously did an interview for Wedi Saith in Welsh (not sure if I made the cutting room floor or... Continue reading

Today's plan - Arrive in Nairobi 06:30 and take a short domestic flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Upon arrival, we will be met and transferred to our overnight Hotel. Here we will meet our guides, have our trek briefing and prepare for the challenge ahead. This will be our last night's sleep in a comfy bed for a week so I plan to make the most of everyday comforts and hopefully resist the temptation to have a beer :) Continue reading

This is the first of my automated blogs which will post every morning that we are away so that you guys know what we are up to on that day. Even though I am hoping to send through live updates I'm not guaranteed comms so this is my 'just-in-case' solution. So, today we head off on the Brains SA Captains climb where 57 of us will attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro to fundraise for Velindre's Stepping Stones Appeal. We are meeting up in the Vale Hotel and then transfer onto buses which will take us to Heathrow for our overnight... Continue reading